Variety breeding must be guided by market demand
Large in size, 3 chili peppers measure one meter long; high in yield, with an output of over six or seven thousand jin per mu; rich in nutrition, with the content of various nutrients being several times that of ordinary high-quality chili peppers. Ningxia goji chili peppers sell well on the market thanks to their many advantages.
Ultimately, today's buyers in the market pay increasing attention to the "inner qualities" of varieties, and beyond pursuing flavor, they take nutritional value more into account. Goji chili peppers, as the name suggests, are the result of distant hybridization, possessing both the health-preserving elements of goji berries and the spicy freshness of chili peppers, so it is inevitable that they are favored by consumers.
The market cannot dictate the future direction of scientific research, but the "good varieties" in consumers' minds can fully determine the development potential of new varieties.
For example, in the dry and irritable autumn season, people should eat more bitter vegetables such as bitter melon to clear internal heat and detoxify, yet although bitter melon is good, it tastes bitter, and many people can only stop at the sight of it. If distant hybridization technology were used to cross bitter melon with a sweet-tasting species to breed a sweet bitter melon, allowing people to clear internal heat while enjoying sweetness, it would surely be recognized by the market.
In addition, for an industry to develop, it must improve its processes and raise the level of processing technology; with good products, there is no need to worry about high returns. "In 2011 we went to Saudi Arabia to participate in an exhibition, and chili sauce that sells for 10 yuan a bottle in Ningxia sold for 15 US dollars there." Ding Xuebao, chairman of Ningxia Shahu Halal Food Co., Ltd., firmly believes that the chili sauce market has great potential. After returning, he inspected around and finally set his sights on the popular chili peppers and the sought-after Ningxia goji berries, and in 2012 he acquired the technical patent for goji chili peppers. "Now, we breed our own seeds and have our own planting bases in Ningxia and Xinjiang, with a planting area of more than 3,000 mu." Ding Xuebao said, "We are simultaneously carrying out deep processing of goji chili peppers and have developed more than a dozen series of products such as goji chili powder, goji chili sauce, goji chili hot pot seasoning, and crispy goji chili peppers. With good products, we are confident about going abroad and selling Ningxia goji chili peppers to foreign countries."